Tag Archives: ethiopia

Addis Ababa/Muscat: This year, around 10,000 tourists from Oman are expected to visit Ethiopia, one of the most ancient countries in the world, which is becoming an increasingly popular destination in Africa, said a senior official. Ethiopia, a treasure trove of historical, cultural and natural riches located in the Horn of Africa, is home to the highest number of Unesco World Heritage sites in Africa, along with Morocco, and receives thousands of foreign tourists every year. ' Now, with ever-increasing ties between Oman and Ethiopia, the northeast African country has its sights set on attracting more tourists from the Sultanate. "We have developed an attractive package and have sent it to all our trading partners. Also, in the absence of an Ethiopian embassy in Oman, we are facilitating visas for Omanis and expatriates living in Oman," said Sami Muctar, country manager - Oman, Ethiopian Airlines. Speaking to the Times of Oman, Muctar said that the launch of direct flights between Muscat and Addis Ababa has led to a 'tremendous' increase in the number of travellers and 10,000 visitors from Oman are expected to visit Ethiopia this year.

ETHIOPIA HAS LEFT me utterly selfish. After a week in this spectacular country I have been consumed by it and want to keep it all to myself. I don’t really want to see tourists scrambling to take photographs in the ancient churches and palaces I have been introduced to. I don’t want others to come and see the beauty of its people or the anger of its storms, to experience the silence of its forests and lakes or to feel the elegance of its music and dance. But everyone should. This is Africa as it is imagined, and it defies all expectations. Yes, our existing images of Ethiopia are harrowing, but those images created an emotional attachment to Ethiopia that shouldn’t be ignored. Before my trip I told everyone I met where I was going, just to gauge their reaction. While most were surprised, they were also excited by the idea and wanted to know more. It seems people want to like Ethiopia. They feel they know it and have an interest in its future.Religion is everywhere in Ethiopia. In fact, for anyone brought up with even a vaguely Christian education, a trip to Ethiopia is your catechism brought to life. The traditions and way of life outside the cities, particularly surrounding its historic sites, can only be described as biblical. It sounds an overly dramatic description, but this is a place where time has stood still. At least for now.

A safe country for tourists, well managed with a young educated workforce and a culture that runs much deeper than old headlines suggestI’m crazy about Ethiopia. It’s exciting and elegant and stuffed full of history and drama. It offers vast distances between its remarkable tourist sites so, for a traveller like me who wants to get lost in the journey, it’s a fascinating place to visit and one that’s rapidly changing. It’s six years since my last trip here and change is everywhere. I’m in a minibus heaving with European journalists, cutting down through the Ethiopian section of the Rift Valley towards the Bale Mountains. It’s an eight-hour drive from the capital Addis Ababa, if we don’t take pit stops – but that’s unlikely in a country as surprising and eye-catching as this. There are deep blue crater lakes to explore, buzzards flying overhead, lush pastures and dark forest alongside us and great restaurants and brand new vineyards to visit. And that’s before we make it to the mountains themselves and all that they offer.

The construction of the Merille-Marsabit-Moyale road which is set to connect Kenya to Ethiopia is almost complete.The Marsabit-Moyale road is to be completed by early May, according to a Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) official.The Isiolo-Merille-Marsabit-Moyale road is part of the Lamu-Port-South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor funded by the government and the European Union at a cost of Sh13.7 billion.A spot check by the Nation revealed that construction workers were working on the final touches of the highway that would connect Kenya to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is home to the largest population of cattle in Africa. In recent years the country’s leather industry has attracted several foreign companies that have set up factories here. For instance in 2012, Chinese footwear manufacturer Huajian Group opened a factory at the industrial zone outside Addis Ababa where it manufactures 6,000 pairs of shoes and boots per day. “The industry has a big future,” says Yigzaw Assefa, chairman of the Ethiopian Leather Industries Association (ELIA) and CEO of Bahirdar Tannery. As one of the government’s priority sectors, investors in leather enjoy incentives including duty exemptions on capital goods and construction materials, and five-plus years of an income tax holiday. Other positives of operating in Ethiopia are free access to US and EU markets as well as cheap labour and electricity. Transfer of knowledge, expertiseWith more foreign investment comes competition for local players, but Assefa says it will also lead to the transfer of knowledge and technical expertise.

Global Electric Transportation (GET) has said through CEO Ken Monter it will start off the project to manufacture electric cars in Ethiopia in September this year. The new electric cars assembly plant will have a production capacity of 4000 units per month when completed. It will be constructed at the cost of 4 million USD.The project, which has also been discussed with the Ethiopian President Teshome Mulatu and US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Patricia M. Haslach, will be an undertaking of US and is set to help in cutting down carbon emissions and reducing other environmental costs. The carbon free cars will also be safe for users. The discussions in relation to the initiative were held last month between the three.

As Addis Ababa city’s new 32 kilometers electric train transport is set to solve the transportation problem of the city traffic safety remains a concern. The city’s new train is expected to transport 15,000 passengers in an hour when it goes operational in the coming few months. “The existing transport system (vehicles) of the city will feed passengers to the 20 new train stations and I hope will solve the current transportation shortage of the city,” said Behailu Sintayehu, Project manager of the Addis Ababa City Light Railway.“We are currently testing tracks and signals and the train service will start within a month and half. The electric authority is also working to allocate the 750 volts electric power we require for the railway system. So that we will have fully dedicated and continuous electric supply and avoid transport service interruption,” he told reporters on Sunday.